>> the investigation starts right now on 20/20. the shocking revelation. ♪ i don't want to hurt you but i need to breathe ♪ ♪ at the end of it all, you're still my best friend ♪om iid that i need to relieve ♪ >> which way is right ♪ ♪ which way is wrong ♪ ♪ i need to move ♪ >> university police, what's your emergency? >> this is warren. i'm not dealing with a situation. i think they are trying to lure

me. in 2018, utah senior lauren muck includes can i repeatedly asked for help. he was deceptive dangerous. >> i use my manipulations to get what i wanted. >> i'm pissed. i could have changed everything. >> people and institutions who were supposed to listen an protect her did not. >> the justice system failed her in so many different ways. >> looking like this might be a kidnapping. >> you have a powerful institution trying to protect his image. >> she did everything right. >> she said no, no, no. and i knew something was wrong. >> this is the story of lauren's life, her murder, and her parents' quest for answers. >> good evening and welcome to 20/20. you're about to witness tonight the results of four years of an investigation into the death of

lauren. a senior at the university of utah. this investigation is led by a team and what they uncovers is surveillance video never seen before tonight. police interviews, documents, photographs, and at the end, you'll likely be asking what these two journalists asked and often, could lauren been saved? >> lauren grew up in pullman, washington. >> she was athletic from the very beginning. she could climb trees at 2 years old and she had no fear. >> she was pure determination. >> she was a very sensitive girl, and so the athletic really gave her a way to channel that. it just helped her be a more confident person. ♪ >> i put her in three events at 8 years old and she broke the record for each event. 400, high jump, and long jump.

i told her, well, if you qualify for nationals, i will take you. when she was 10, it was in los angeles and she got second place in high jump in junior olympic nationals. she was competitive with anyone in the country as a young child. >> i remember meeting lauren in dance class. i was about 13. she was awesome. it was fun to be around here. whatever she did, she was amazing at. she really loved to sing. she always participated in things that w eitheew challenging for her that made her a better person. >> -- [inaudible] >>

sorry, 3 -- anyway. >> she was pretty famous at the high school. >> holy mackerel. [cheers] >> oh, lauren mccluskey, you're her dad, okay. >> she was the kind of friend you could rely on. it didn't matter the time or day if you needed someone to talk to. lauren would be there for you. i would talk to lauren every single day. ♪ >> the university of utah, she really loved the athletic program. she liked the academics. >> she liked the coaches. she liked the girls on the team. she just enjoyed the whole experience. i think she did want to experience living away from home. >> we firt met august 2015. it was our freshman year. her eyes lit up when she talked. >> super smart. super intense. very dedicated to, you know, her

family, her church. >> she was such a multidimensional person like you didn't just see her as an athlete. she was lauren, who was an athlete but she was also a comedian. she was also a dancer. >> she was a communication major. she did extremely well. she was very excited about graduating. >> it was the beginning of their senior year and lauren and her friend alex were heading to downtown salt lake city to a bar to have a good time. alex requested that we only use her first name. >> i think it was a saturday night in september. our first encounter with him was outside. >> he was the bouncer. lauren and her friend alex were going out. they liked to dance. >> i remember him being very huge. very big muscles. throughout the night he would come and pass through and stop to talk to us a few times. probably around midnight, we got up to leave.

it was very crowded because people were dancing at this point. i was behind her, and then all of a sudden i look up, and then he has like his hands on her shoulders. so she gave him her number, and they made plans to go on a date. >> she told me right away that she was dating him, and i think he came in and tried to sweep her off her feet. ♪ >> he said his name was sean. he was 28 years old. he was enrolled currently at salt lake community college. he also said that he worked at a call center. >> it started off really, really good, like a fairy tale. it was like it's too good to be true but it's like you're happy for that person because they are happy. >> he took her out for dinner and bought her flowers, and asked her to be his girlfriend.

>> i think she liked the attention. he was very charming. >> she said sean said i could invite a few friends to go out on thursday, and meet him but i found it weird how she phrased it, he said i could invite. she said he told me to wear a t-shirt and jeans, so that's why i'm wearing this and she seemed very nervous around him. he called her while we were at target. he sounded very mad, like where are you? who are you with? find that very concerning. >> i remember, you know, being like, why do you have to answer your phone when that person calls? she was like, they really want me to answer my phone right way because they have some insecurities from the past and they just want to make sure, you know, where i'm at what i'm doing, and if i'm okay. at the end of the conversation, this person would manipulate it, you know, just as she was about

to hang up, this individual would say, you know, i love you. >> you don't even want to say his name, do you? >> no. i'm not going to say that person's name. they don't deserve to have their name mentioned. >> he got her pepper spray at one point. he's like, oh, i think you need pepper spray to protect yourself from other men. then, he invited her to go shooting. before she went she told me, he wants me to get a gun. >> when i found that out that's when i told a few other friends. >> they started outlining, lauren seeing this new guy, he's not really a good guy. she's not hanging out with us as much. he's talking about getting her a gun, and then that's when, you know, it had passed a point of, oh, this is harmless gossip to this is actually something that could be detrimental to her academic career, and then i had

to switch into professional mode. >> this was the moment when lauren mcclus ke y first alerted university of utah officials about her month long relationship. >> i called my supervisor and asked, what are some steps you want me to take? do you want me to call the police? do you want me to contact lauren and meet her somewhere but my supervisor was new and she didn't want me to take the wrong steps and told me to all my adviser. >> jackson emailed her adviser on october 2. the email says, maybe in a potential harmful relationship. not resident boyfriend staying with her and her roommate. boyfriend may be getting a gun. concern that he had been tracking lauren. also that lauren is not taking care of herself and these two friends are boat worried about lauren. >> i felt like there were

multiple points in that, that were grounds for us to act. >> a couple of days later lauren made her own alarming discovery. >> she and her friend found a picture that looked le him, that was a sex offender. >> he was like, are you a hundred percent, are you a hundred percent sure? >> her voice seemed hush and she seemed scared. >> i think they are trying to lure me somewhere. ♪ things are looking up ♪ ♪ i've got symptom relief ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪hingme. ♪ feel significant symptom relief with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements at 4 weeks. 9

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. >> there is no way she would stick around if she knew the truth. >> i'm a criminal. >> this is too dangerous. ♪ ♪ >> lauren had been dating her boyfriend. >> she thought she knew her boyfriend until she found his i.d. which had a different age

and a different name. >> she and a friend found a picture that looked like him that was a sex foreign and i was like, are you a hundred percent sure it could be this person? because based on what i was reading online it's like that was a really hard offense. ♪ >> it turns out sean fields was not his real name. he was melvin sean roland. he was 37. and he pleaded guilty to two sex crimes in 2004. >> lauren had gone home to pullman, washington, for a few days to visit her parents for fall break. she told me that she had found out that he was a sex offender and that he had lied about his age and that she was going to break up with him and i said yes, that's exactly the right thing to do. >> we were coming up with plan for how she should break up with him, and i didn't want her to do it on campus because, since it was fall break, a lot of people were out of town. >> adding to lauren's problems

was that she had loaned him her car when she was home visiting her parents. >> he had her car while she was gone, and she needed to get her car back. >> lauren met roland at her dorm that night. >> i get a message from her saying i'll call you tomorrow. and yes, i'm home. >> i was scared, not sleeping that night. that next morning, her voice seemed very hushed and she seemed very scared, and i was like, lauren, are you alone? and she was like, no i'll call you later. >> i finally get a call from her, and he spent the night. he was still denying anything happened. it was years ago, he was at like a college fraternity party. the girl lied about her age. he was still making excuses of how that's not true. >> and then the next day, after she broke up with him, and he had her car, i was worried about her safety and that's when i

called the police. >> university police security, can i help you? >> hi, i would like to request some help for my daughter. she's a student at the university of utah and she started dating this guy who is like a bad person. she found out he's a bad person and she broke up with him and he has her car. he was lying to her and he's actually a sexual offender. i don't want her to go there by herself and have something bad happen to her. >> after the campus police dispatcher spoke to jill she called lauren. >> hello. >> hi, is this lauren? >> yes. >> hi, this is the university police, your ex-boyfriend is dropping off your car. do you feel comfortable with him doing that? i know your mom was really concerned about it. i think it's okay. >> we have a security officer that's in charge of escorts tonight.

do you want him to wait with you as well when the car is being dropped off. >> that would be great. >> the car was there, so she had her car back. then she started getting a lot of texts. >> i've been getting these texts from these members, people, they are saying he was in the hospital and then that he passed away but then i got a text from him and he seems to be live. i got a text asking if i wanted to go to a funeral. his funeral. and i think they are trying to lure me somewhere. >> he was very good at manipulating phones and social media. he could make spoof numbers so it looked like a bunch of different people were testing

her, and they were very mean texts to her saying that he got into a car accident and it's her fault. >> have you asked him to stop tending you? >> i have not but i've blocked a few of the numbers already. >> all right. i'll send an officer to give you a call is that okay? >> yes, sounds good. >> the next day, saturday, six weeks after she met roland, she called the university police again. >> so i'm dealing with a situation where i'm being blackmailed for money. a photo of my, me and my ex, threatening to send it out to everyone. >> lawrence suspected roland might be involved but he lied to her that morning and said he was also being blackmailed.

she sent a thousand dollars throughvenmo. the dispatcher made radio contact with patrol officer at 9:12 a.m. >> the caller said her ex-boyfriend is tending messages threatening to expose an explicit photo in exchange for money. the email was received around 6:00 or 7:00. text received around 8:00 a.m. sean roland is around the age of 37. >> i see all of these messages from her about the extortion. at that point she had already contacted campus police. you have to go in person. >> saturday, october 13, her practice ended and then we headed to the police department. >> we went inside the entire thing was conducted in the reception area of the police department. >> miguel terrace was an officer with the university of utah police. when he sat down with us, it was the first time he had spoken

publicly about the case. >> she was with a friend. she walked in the lobby, and i asked her about the payment she had sent. she gave me his full name. date of birth, and she had a picture of his driver's license. they showed us what they found on google. >> he's a sex offender. he went to jail, and i actually had to google it myself and hand my phone over to him. >> was it a sex offenders registry. >> it showed on his criminal history that he was on that list. >> i felt like they weren't taking it seriously because we had told them like she lives on the first floor. maybe she should move housing. >> the charges that roland had been convicted of, these were serious charges. that didn't give you any concerns? >> yes, there was concern there,

but we weren't sure it was him. anyone could have been extorting her. that's why there was random phone numbers, unknown emails, that they wanted to blackmail her. >> she showed them one of the numbers that was sending her messages, was the same number roland had had when they were in a relationship together. she writes the report. i do remember them saying it's a scam. it's probably a scam. she gives them the report and then they give her the case number, and then they tell her that the detective was currently not in the office, and that warren would hear an update by tuesday. >> what did you think at that point you were dealing with? >> an extortion case. >> the case was assigned to the on-call detective who was not in the office that saturday but according to official reports she had conversations about

lauren that day with other officers. she then contacted her supervisor. >> newbold told her not to come in. she was working on several other cases that week. >> that evening, lauren called 911 to tell the salt lake city police about the blackmail and how she had reported it to campus police earlier that day. >> i've been blackmailed for money. >> let me get you of to the university police. they will probably take that case then. just one second. >> i've talked to them already. but i just wanted to call you as well. >> usually we just take where you live and then that agency does a case. >> yes, i was just concerned because i wasn't sure how long they were going to take. >> okay. let me get you out to them and see what's going on with it. just one moment. >> do you know when an arrest would be made? >> you can talk to an officer if you want. i can arrange that if you want that? >> okay. >>heas getting meds go.

shti in constant contact with the police, specifically miguel -- so any time she was getting messages she would j that whole process i remember saying call the cops and she said that she did. she said, i don't want to talk about it. the police have it under control. i shouldn't have to worry about it anymore. >> lauren didn't realize it but her problems were just starting. >> unbelievable. the amount of times that she called the police. >> university police security, how can i help you? >> as alarming as this was, lauren had no idea the

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>> the university of utah senior lauren mccluskey was worried about strange texts she was getting after she broke up with her boyfriend melvin roland so 10 daysftp andmpus>> irofray, seven weeks after they first met. roland is dressed up as the comic-book character dead pool and walking around outside launch's dorm. at 4:02 p.m., here she is walking into the west entrance, and then a minute later, c. roland is walk around the outside of the north entrance. >> lauren and her parents didn't know that roland didn't know he was stalking her and that he had access to her email because she had once logged into her account on his phone so he knew about her communications with campus police. >> she got a message saying i

know everything, why did you go to the police? i sought the police because we went a week ago and they still went up to her apartment and that's when she called salt lake city police. >> i'm worried because i've been working with the campus police d last sur reported, and i haven't gotten an update. >> okay. >> but someone contacted me today. someone -- who said that they know everything about the police. >> okay. so you already spoke to the campus police? >> yes. they haven't updated or done anything. >> what prompted you to call salt lake city police? >> well, i thought it was weird that there are people who know about the entire case and the harassers seem to know about it more than me. and i'm concerned there might be an insider who is letting them know about the case.

>> okay. >> so i haven't gotten updates and it's been a week. >> with something like that you would want to contact the plus police back and ask to speak to your detective. >> so she called. the first thing she says is, can i speak to the detective and he wanted to know why and she was like my family is concerned that nothing is being done. oh, what? you told your family. i'll contact her now. >> few minutes later, the detective finally contacts lauren. >> according to official reports, detective kahleah -- first spoke to lauren on friday. >> lauren hado relay a lot of information to the detective that i felt like the detective should have already known so either information wasn't passed along to the detective or if it was passed along, the detective hadn't read it at that point.

>> they were on the phone for a while and the detective tells lauren to send her an email of everything, so lauren actually does it that night. >> she told me, i think i'm annoying them. that i'm calling so much. she specifically told me that, and then i said it's their job, they are supposed to listen to you and help you. >> that's their job. >> she went to the necessary people that could have taken the extra step to take him away. she did everything right. >> unbelievable. the amount of times that she called the police. how long it took for them to look into her case. >> i remember her saying, hopefully in a few years, when i'm in a better place and married to someone else, we can look back on >> early on the morning of october 22, 12 days after lauren and her mother first spoke to police, melvin roland left his

apartment, headed to campus, in a silver buick borrowed from his neighbor and parked in the lot outside of lauren's building. surveillance video shows him outside at 6:26 a.m. >> lauren received a text message that morning from someone claiming to be deputy chief rick mcclennan of the campus police department. >> lauren calls me, and she tells me that she got a message from a deputy chief saying she had to come to the department now. she noticed that there were certain grammatical errors that were consistent that she had seen in the past and we figured it was probably not a real deputy chief. she was very scared and she was concerned. she's like what do i do? she said she was going to tell miguel. >> according to phone records she called campus police officer miguel at 10:00 a.m. >> she said i've been receiving these messages.

claiming to be deputy chief, and i was like, oh, what's the phone number of that, who is texting you? and i told her, no, that's not him. >> here's lauren six minutes later entering heritage hall. a minute after that she's walking across campus. and here's roland nine minutes later. he walks into the same building, looks around for a few minutes, then leaves. he goes back to her dorm. >> lauren's phone calendar shows that she had an 11:00 a.m. appointment with her on-campus counselor. >> she saw the counselor twice in the time she broke up with him and i encouraged her to do that because i know she wasn't telling me everything and i hoped she could tell it to the counselor and get some guidance on what to do. >> after seeing her counselor she called miguel again at 11:55. she tries again at 12:08. he calls her back at 12:14. >> then i was at the union center on campus. and she happened to be there.

so she showed me those messages and i told her personally. idnd up connectgly saw her that rson?her? >> i told -- union center. somehow we both said, oh, we're here. i'm here, too. >> she let me look at those text messages. i told her, screen shot those and forward them to the detective. and we both left. i went back to my car. she left. >> i had texted her soon before 2:00 p.m. asking her if she had told darris and she said she had and that's the last i talked to her. >> roland walked in and out of campus buildigs all day nearly missing roland. >> you can see that he was roaming around campus carrying

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race, and asa hutchinson, will he or won't he run? what will he say sunday morning? all this week on sunday's abc. >> the stage is set. a hollywood week like you have never seen before. does that mean you've decided to leave the competition. sunday night on abc, "american idol." >> on monday, october 22, lauren mccluskey went about her day. she had a counseling appointment and then later went to study in the student union. meanwhile melvin rowland walked in and out of campus buildings all day narrowly missing lauren. >> security video captures rowland inside lauren's dorm carrying a small black bag. a student let him into the locked door multiple times. they are fist pumping in the

hallway. >> campus police later interviewed the student. he was one of lauren mccluskey's neighbors. >> we obtained this recording from public requests records. they blurred the image and altered his voice. >> nice to meet you. i ge back to my room about two or three minutes after that i hear a knock. i open the door. it's him. >> rowland calling himself apollo, asked if he could hang out with that student and others in their rooms. >> he says he's a student here. he says he's a senior with a 3.7gpa. majoring in software engineering, and that he was an ex-marine and the marines are paying his whole tuition. >> then, rowland shows him the black bag he had been carrying around campus. >> his like, if you guys knew what i had in here, you would be like, wow. what is it? he showed me and said it was a gun. he said it was a military issued

beretta. >> so he shows you the gun. >> yes. >> and you look at it, hold it. >> i hold it, look at it, put it in the light and i'm like, okay, cool, and i handed it back to him in like 10 seconds. >> then what happens? >> and then we hang out for a little bit more, and then around that time, it's probably 7:30, 8:00, and i'm okay, man, sorry, but i've got to go study at the bleyer and then i go to the library, he walks off. in the opposite direction of the way i go. >> rowland left lauren's dorm for the last time at 8:10 p.m. around the same time lauren was leaving her class. >> the class had gotten out a little bit early, as she was going home, she called me. >> i was in this room. right where i'm sitting right now. and jill was right behind me. over here.

and she was talking to lauren on the speaker-phone. so i could hear their conversation. it was very lively. very happy. lauren was looking forward to things. she was proud that she was making progress on an assignment that was not due for a few days. so it was a wonderful conversation. she was so happy. and then -- and then she said -- no, no, no, no, no, no, no. and i knew something was wrong. >> i hear her yell, no, no, no. and then i sort of hear her being dragged away and her phone fell, and then no one answered the phone. >> we were yelling into the phone. lauren, lauren. >> i knew that her life was in

danger at that time. >> attempting to locate an agent involved in a possible kidnapping. the victim is lauren mccluskey. when you saw her name what went through your mind? >> i was in shock, oh, my god. >> she just started saying, no, no, no. and -- like someone might have been grabbing her or something. >> we were scrambling trying to figure out where she might be. oh, hello! hi! do you know that every load of laundry could be worth as much as $300? really?

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>> i was sitting in the newsroom at the salt lake tribune and all of a sudden, you could hear the crackle on the police radio. kidnapping university of utah. kidnapping, it kept repeating that. >> attempt to locate a suspect involved in possible kidnapping. the victim is lauren mccluskey. my daughter, lauren mccluskey, i was talking to her mom and then she just started saying no, no, no, like someone might have been grabbing her or something. >> we were scrambling trying to figure out where she might be. >> all right. you said she was locked into her car in front of wobbling? >> from -- gardner commons. >> someone is talking on her

phone. hello. >> hello. -- >> okay. if you would just stay er i think she was mugged. >> where is that backpack at? can you get a location for me? >> university police. >> hi. i just found a whole bunch of -- on the ground and a phone that has an active call. i picked it up. this woman -- >> yes, i was just on the phone with her parents. >> okay. >> i'm having officers responding out that way [inaudible] >> parking lot. >> looking like this might be a kidnapping. >> i got up to the door and it was chilly. it was a cold night.hing was ju taped off. this huge perimeter. >> we just went in and heard a couple of shots and they found a shell case. >> information was not being shared readily. all we knew is there was an

active manhunt. very limited details were pouring in at that time. >> there was a lot of focus on this one particular parking lot, and there were police everywhere. from multiple agencies. there were police dogs. really an atmosphere of fear and no answers. what were they lookingfor? what was goingon? >>tiple calls, wondering what we want students to do? >> tell them to secure a place. stay locked down in place. >> hello, this is matt. >> hi, matt, this is bell with the university of utah, the police. have you guys heard from her or anything? >> no, we have not. >> okay. >> officials issued a campus wide shelter in place alert and soon followed with a suspect description at 0:10. the manhunt was on for 37-year-old melvin rowland. >> we're heading westbound from the north medical tower.

the city has a group of six officers and a canine heading northbound. >> my daughter lauren mccluskey is missing. >> we do have officers on the scene handling it right now. we're actively looking for her, we're doing everything we can to track her down. >> i would look out the window and as long as i didn't see any police cars coming to our house, i out okay.ro talng >> put her in the ambulance. i'm standing in the north parking lot. >> medical -- >> it was actually her coach that told me that they found her. and i said is she okay and he said, i'm sorry, she's

she's gone. and that was when i just started crying and matt knew what he had said by my response. >> it's hard to even describe. i didn't cry. i was totally shocked. it was like trauma. like getting hit by a baseball bat. it was that physical. >> i remember getting from mrs. mccluskey, and she said that we lost her, and i was like what do you mean that we lost her? and i remember calling her and she said that lauren had been shot, and that she was murdered. i just remember going outside

and just looking up, looking up at the stars and just hoping, hoping that lauren didn't suffer, when she left this world. that you weren't in pain. >> lauren mccluskey had been shot and police are scouring the campus and beyond form killer. >> the suspect is going to be a male black -- jack with white stripes wearing a gray beaty and white shoes. >> it was just an awful discovery. they find lauren has been shot and killed in that car, and now police are frantically searching the campus and the community, looking for the killer. >> the manhunt was on for 37-year-old melvin rowland. melvin rowland was last seen getting into a car with another woman.

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>> i'm a c ♪ ♪ >> i have officers chasing the suspect on the shooting. >> i don't want to hurt you, but i need to breathe. >> he is in full pursuit right now. ♪ but for something inside that i need ♪ >> a remarkable talented young woman whose bright life was ended on monday in a senseless act of violence. ♪ which way is right ♪ which way is wrong ♪ ♪ i need to move on ♪ the parents lost her kid, she's gone and you have the audacity to cover your ass. >> we know warren had called and complained that she was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend. >> why didn't somebody at that

point just go interview melvin rowland. >> because we were not sure it was him. >> why not ask him? >> he was a one man sex crime wave. >> this monster, masqueraded around campus. how did he get through? >> later, he showed me his hand and in it was gun. >> she did everything right. we let her down. the system let her down. >> i'm sorry i couldn't protect their daughter. >> new details about a college athlete that was murdered in utah. >> a mother's horror. she was on the phone with her daughter, authorities say, as she was about to be shot and killed by her boyfriend. >> new questions about whether authorities did enough to help her, with chilling 911 calls to police days before her murder. >> lauren mccluskey had no idea that on ma monday evening, back in october of 2018, as she was walking across campus, her normal routine, that her former boyfriend, melvin rowland, was actually stalking her, waiting

for her outside her dorm at e universiah o.o the police report, surveillance video shows lauren as she was about to enter her dorm and melvin rowland can be seen standing several feet behind her. he steps toward mccluskey and grabs her. at 8:18 he can be seen carrying her north away from the door. this video was never released by the university. >> rowland carried her to this nearby parking lot. forced her into the back seat of his neighbor's car, and shot her seven times. >> he's seen here three minutes later making his way south through campus parking lots, and across this bridge, ending up at a light rail station on campus. >> all units on the shooting, suspect is going to be a male black white -- jacket -- wearing gray beaty shoes. >> he was picked up at the

station by a driver in a silver hyundai sonata. >> within minutes of shooting her, of shooting lauren, he went out on a date with a woman that he had arranged on a dating app. >> they went out to dinner. they hung out at her place. he took a shower. seemed like he was just having another normal night afterwards with another woman. >> the woman contacted police that night. >> the police blurred her image and altered her voice. >> i saw the picture of this guy, and then i saw that he ran and pick me up in a silver sow national toe, which is a description of my car. i saw the picture but the name isn't the same. the age, i'm all-around, i was worried for my safety. >> a hundred percent safe in here, you were fine.

>> i have officers chasing your suspect on the shooting. he is in full pursuit right now. >> around 1:00 a.m., salt lake city police officers spotted him in the area of 200 east and 500 south downtown. >> they were chasing him on foot. they chased him to this location, where they found that he had forced entry into this building. >> we have a suspect inside a church. it looks like he had a gunshot wound self-inflicted. >> and clearing the building, they found our suspect deceased in a room in the church. >> it turns out that melvin rowland died by suicide. police say using the same gun he used to kill lauren mccluskey. so many of us won't forget those images on campus that day, all of those young students who had gathered. you could see the tears. coming down their faces. those who knew her. those who loved lauren.

suddenly, the nation knew the story of this young woman with so much promise, whose life was stolen. >> we gather today to honor the memory of lauren mccluskey. a remarkable talented young woman whose bright life was ended on monday in a senseless act of violence. >> she was a joy to coach. it is an immense and deep pain that my team and all of our student athletes are feeling. >> she was an amazing caring person. and she'll >> it made national headlines. we knew there would be accountability issues. we wonder, could this have been

prevented? >> and there was also the focus on rowland. who is kind of the villain in this case, looking at his past, his criminal history. >> he was like a con man, a sweet talker. he had used various aliases. >> we talked to two or three other women who had dated him that said he did the same thing to us, and we could have been lauren. >> women that he had dated for short periods of time that he just became kind of obsessive with. there were just so many pieces of information that we realized that you didn't have and never found out that we were starting to find out in the first couple of days. >> i would say within a week or two at most, the focus shifted. it became how the university made mistakes. how the institution failed lauren. >> you have a powerful institution that's trying to protect its image, that is promising transparency. we know lauren had called.

she had complained that she was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend. there are only two things that could have occurred. one, the writing on the wall was there and it was simply ignored. or those who were looking at t wall couldn't read. >> he was deceptive. he was dangerous. it entered my mind thinking how could we not have known? the facts that they uncovered were shocking. >> police learned that -- rowland had sexually assaulted a 17-year-old high school student. >> i just felt sick to my stomach when i heard that. is nurtec odt. 's who it's the only migraine medication that can treat and prevent my attacks all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. with nurtec odt,

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>> the murder of lauren mccluskey now sets into motion two investigations into her death in utah. >> while the states department ofin rowland's history with the criminal justice system, the university of utah commissioned its own independent review. >> they presented this report that showed all of these ways that the university mishandled it. how the officers mishandled it. they had all of these recommendations for things that should be fixed and the president made the kind of infamous statement. >> this report does not offer us a reason to believe that this tragedy could have been prevented but instead -- >> i was shocked. that she would say that. i just felt sick to my stomach. >> i think the statement defies

logic. it defies facts. it was written by a lawyer. >> everyone was really trying to avoid it. we didn't do anything wrong. we didn't do anything wrong. i'm like these parents lost their kid. she's gone and you have the audacity to try to cover your ass. >> what did your journalistic instinct tell you about the approach that they were taking? >> that ty ult the and reputat university a the facts the ng. that she was trying to get help from the police, when in fact, it should have just been one phone call. but the most shocking thing was the large number of flaws in the system. >> in june 2019, jill and matt filed a $56 million lawsuit against the university of utah and several staffers including

members of the campus police department. alleging deliberate indifference and failure to intervene to protect their daughter, lauren. >> i do not want to be in this world without lauren. but being stuck here, i've no choice but to try to make this world better. >> women must be believed and taken seriously when they ask for help. >> the state's investigative report gave a bit of rowland's background. he grew up in brooklyn, new york, and said he was adopted by an older couple utah officials say they found no juvenile criminal record for rowland but he attended a high school for troubled youth in colorado. he moved to utah when he was about 20 years old. >> a summary of the report stated that rowland was sentenced in 2004 to one to 15 years in prison charges of enticing a minor over the internet and an attempted forcible sexual abuse. >> i first heard about him because i represented the

internet crimes against children task force. a bunch of different people working together from a bunch of different law enforcement entities. >> one agent on that task force was assigned to pose and a teenager in online chat rooms. >> he was acting as a 13-year-old girl, and melvin asked him if he wanted to meet for wild sex. they make their t arrangement to meet and met in downtown salt lake. >> and when rowland arrived, who was waiting for him? >> the internet crimes against children task force. >> police learned that two nights before, 22-year-old rowland had sexually assaulted a 17-year-old high school student. >> so they had met online dated for a period of about a month. she indicated she was tired and she wanted him to leave. he could not. when he began to rape her she put a pillow over her face and covered herself up. after he finished, he left and said, you won't have to hear

from me again. and i won't take anything on my way out. >> the 17-year-old went to the hospital for a rape exam and to be treated for her injuries. >> he was a one man sex crime wave and was just looking to commit sex crimes. the initial charge was rape because of the crime against the actual victim. and then enticing a minor over the internet. two serious felonies. >> rowland lied to officers and fbi agents at the time and told them he was a football player at the university of utah. although he was enrolled at the school from the fall of 2003 to spring 2004. >> he just seemed like the consummate manipulator. someone who is very smooth a engaging, and convincing, compelling, but who you shouldn't believe a word of what >> as cases were proceeng rowland

supervised monitoring device on cls ankle while he attended he dro hech a o ple guty. he was sentenced one to 15 years in prison. >> there was a strong likelihood that the victim in this case was not going to be able to withstand trial. and so that was a strong motivation for me to reach a plea bargain. >> what was the next thing you ever heard about him? >> when i saw the report on tv, that he had killed lauren and himself. it hit me like a ton of bricks. he was a predator. we did the right thing by stopping him. how did he get out? why was he out? and, oh, my god. >> one of the most heartbreaking things about this case is that melvin rowland has this stunning criminal history and so many questions about could he have been stopped long before this?

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>> megan thompson was melvin rowland's final parole agent. she was assigned to his case in 2018. >> when you were assigned melvin rowland how many other cases did you have? tre wearing earlier, where he essentially admitted to committing two rapes that he had not been charged with. had you ever heard that? >> no. >> is this your first time hearing it? >> yes. >> this was from 2012. >> they didn't tell me how many victims you have, so i would like you to give me kind of an idea of what we're looking at, victim-wise. >> does that include the women i dated in college or just --

>> no, you talked to -- >> i would say everyone that i came across dating were met on the internet. i used my monday niplations to get what i wanted. >> how many did you out and out rape like the one young >> not like that. but a womanizer, you know, i use other tactics to get what i wanted with them. i would say two. >> two others. >> but i see it in general as how i manipulate and use women in general. >> how many women in general did you convince to have sex with you by manipulation? >> i got locked up at 22 and -- i would say about 50. >> okay. >> so we hear him say flat out he raped two other women. what's your reaction to hearing

that? >> i am just appalled that i didn't know. it should have been investigated because there is no statute of limitations >> have you heard of situations like that where essentially someone admits to violent felonies in a hearing and nothing happens? >> no. >> we asked the board of pardons and parole why rowland's admission to two additional rapes wasn't investigated. the board replied, the individual retains their right against self-incrimination under the fifth amendment. the board's role is to ask questions and respond to the information provided but it cannot be a fair venue if we're also involved in investigatory or prosecutorial actions. >> he got away with other crimes. and it makes me feel horrible that i wasn't able to do anything about that was wasn't aware of it. >> hopefully when you get out you can learn from this experience. only time will tell.

>> i know i have the capability ofndofing but again it's something that i will have to prove. >> rowland had been denied parole in his first three attempts but a month of that hearing in july 2012 he was released. within a few months, he was sent back to prison for failing to participate in sex offender therapy and for having links to porn on his phone. >> in 2013, he was paroled again. and out of prison for 2 1/2 years. during that time he fathered a son. he also briefly dated kara. >> i feel like it's important that people understand that he was just very skilled at getting what he wanted. >> didn't hear from him or see him at all for a couple of months. and then 25 missed phone calls, and just like, just a slew of text messages. he said that his parole officer stopped by and'm ke, y ve a parole offi like,

what? he knows that his parole officer is going to take him away, he was on his cell phone, and he takes his cell phone, and throws it under the oven in his kitchen, and then he breaks out the door and runs from his parole officer. >> she said she persuaded rowland to turn him in and he was sent back to prison for four parole abseconing from parole agents. they addressed the threat that he had against a parole agent. >> the man who first prosecuted rowland. >> it is rather disconcerting, the comment that he made, that he did not wish to parole again, and if an agent were to come and conduct a field visit, he might become violent. mr. rowland expressed to me that he was mad at the time, and that

he was just making that statement and that he didn't mean it. >> that was just a wake up call to the board of pardons. he sends up all these flares that i'm a problem. if i get out i'm going to hurt people. i mean, his probation officer is an armed trained law enforcement officer and he's threatening violence to that person? >> mccluskey didn't stand a chance. >> melvin row lapped was imprisoned for nearly two years and then had another parole hearing in january 2018. the board faced the choice. keep him in prison until the end of his sentence, 16 months later, or release him on parole so he would be supervised in the community. >> i understand i haven't been the best model citizen when i'm released and it shows by two paroles, you know, i just hope

they take into consideration, given me this chance, i can redeem myself. >> i wish you the best of luck. >> thank you. >> okay? >> in april 2018, rowland was paroled for the third time. megan thompson was assigned to be his parole agent. him? >> arrogant. entitled. i knew that he had a history with women so i was very overly, i guess you could say, assertive and rigid, to where he knew and saw me as an officer and not as a woman. we clearly say he didn't like the rules, but he knew he had to follow them. he was just kind of more focused on his life after parole. >> during a search you found that he had been accessing a dating site. what did you discover? >> on his phone he had some aps

that he was socializing with women on. and several women on, as far as violating him on that and him going back to prison, there was no way the supervisor of or the board of pardons would have approved that he go back to prison just that. >> in august, he tests positive for marijuana. >> yes. there had been no previous concerns about drug use in his history or in my encounters with him. came down on him pretty hard if i remember right, during that visit with him. this would be a verbal warning. >> people, after the fact, after he killed lauren, after he died, look back and think, oh, my god, there is a chance right there, they could have violated him. when you look back at him what do you think? >> there is no way, i would never have brought a warrant. what i did was what would have -- what was appropriate. >> how do you feel you handled

all the information that you got about him? >> i handled things very appropriately. i was told i handled things very appropriately. >> we contacted the department of corrections about rowland's behavior and potential parole violations. officials responded that the type of violations ap and p was aware of during rowland's parole would not typically have returned someone to prison and was consistent with state guidelines. >> one of the difficult things about this case and there are so many difficult questions to this day, but had melvin row slaempbded his entire prison term, had he not been released until may of 2019, that would have been seven months after he murdered lauren mccluskey. instead he's paroled in 2018. the year before, he gets a job at that downtown bar in salt lake city. and that's where they meet.

>> this is a girl who has come to us with a problem. we need to take it seriously. >> there was a lot of shock that this had happened. every system that lauren tried to get help through failed. >> the question whether or not campus police could have been doing more to help lauren, if anything at all, now there is this brand-new question. >> what had they done with the intimate photos that lauren had shared with them, trusting them? simparica trio is the first , ea and ticks ♪ intestinal worms... wow heartworm disease, no problem with simarica trio. this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. for winning protection. go with simparica trio. wow. that's good.

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>> we now know it was one week after lauren mccluskey met melvin rowland at that bar where he worked at salt lake city that his fellow bouncer at the ball nathan vogel, asks a friend to help nathan buy a baretta handgun at a gun store. the incredible thing is, it was just later that month melvin rowland borrows this new handgun to take lauren mccluskey shooting. and authorities would later learn it was the same gun he used to kill lauren. >> vogel pled guilty to making a false statement to obtain the weapon. >> when lauren's friends learned that her new boyfriend wanted to take her shooting and get her a gun they became concerned. jackson sent an email to her supervisor on october 2. with a list of concerns. >> during that period of time, from the second to the 22nd, how

much were you hearing about lauren and what was going on with her? >> it was never brought up unless i brought it up. what's being done, have y'all changed rooms for her yet? what's going on, and they were just like we were going to handling it and the director of conduct is going to look it. very nonchalant, it's going to get done. nothing happened. >> in the hours later, they discussed the concerns that resident adviser diamond jackson had first raised by email three weeks before. she spoke to joe mccluskey after lauren's death. >> i was able to call her mom and tell her exactly what on my end. i told her that i was sorry. i wish i could change, i wish i could go back. and i told her exactly what i did. who i spoke to. i laid it all out, and i really

told her that i really wished i would have went and helped her, and she was just being so kind. i'm like, why are you being kind to me? your daughter is gone, and i could have helped her and she's like, diamond, there is nothing could you have done. >> we contacted campus housing officials who were named in the mccluskey lawsuit. none of them would speak to us on the record. >> lauren mccluskey had repeatedly contacted campus police. >> i'm dealing with a situation where i'm being blackmailed for money. >> the university of utah sent a statement to us saying in part, lauren's death forced the university to reckon with its dysfunctional police department incomplete employee training and communications. >> the detectiv in charge of lauren's extortion case was kahleah, who had been on the job for less than a year.

her supervisor was sergeant cory newbold who died in 2021. school officials told us there is no record that newbold ever straithed her to follow up on lauren's case. >> now a deputy sheriff for a county in utah, she declined our request. >> miguel is the offer who took lauren's initial police report. >> what sort of threat did you think melvin rowland might be to her? >> we weren't a hundred percent sure that it was him. lauren didn't think it was him. she kept saying it was rowland's friends, an unknown, ■orpossibly rowland. >> why didn't somebody at that point just go interview rowland? >> because we were not sure it was him. >> why not ask

>> that's when -- that's where i needed more experience on these type of doing follow-ups. we were trained as first line officers to document everything, and pass it over to a detective. they wanted detectives to do the follow up. >> you gave me a very long pause when i asked you about contacting him. sitting here today, what do you wish you had done? >> contacted him. or told someone to. -- criminal history, that's where i -- we saw that he had convictions. >> what did it show about his parole status? >> we weren't trained to look at that. so i had no idea to even check for that.

>> had you ever run someone's parole status before? >> >> according to the university's review, no one in the campus police department checked rowland's status to see if he was on parole and no policies or procedures were in place to require such a check. he was on parole, and contacted you, what would have happened next? >> my next step would be contacting him, locating him. >> did you ever hear from campus police at any point? >> no. >> what concerns did you have for her safety at that point? >> none, because she did not report any fear or concerns of domestic violence. >> what were your supervisors aware of, what was going on? >> everything. >> what should have happened that week? >> there is a lot what if's.

>> there should have been a lot more emphasis placed on the fact that this is a girl who has come to us with a problem. we need to take it seriously. we can't brush her off and say, we'll get to you next week when detective so and so comes in. we need to take a hard look at this now. >> when lauren reported the blackmailing, campus police requested that she send the intimate images to officer darris. he forwarded them to a detective as instructed but two days later he allegedly showed them to other officers. >> a public records request espn submitted in october 2019 prompted the university to open an internal investigation into what darris did with the photos. the salt lake tribune which also submitted public records request publish add story in 2020. >> how did respon lckathi hpped. >> tithey didn't

know about it or didn't have records until two years after lauren was killed. >> according to utah department ofpublic safety investigation, released in august 2020, multiple officers said under oath that darris showed techs police sit photos for nonlaw enforcement reasons. two officers told gps investigators that darris made an unprofessional comment about the photos. another officer admitted making a similar comment while a third said he might have but didn't recall. >> it hit me very hard. if she had asked me for advice i would have told her, absolutely share embarrassing, compromising pictures with the police because they are professionals and it would have been very bad advice looking back on it. >> it's a betrayer of trust. she went to the police expecting to get help. >> there was no way i was bragging or sharing these photos. i wouldn't do that to her.

>> there were two officers who reported they remember hearing some unprofessional comments being made when you showed pictures. >> i don't remember any unprofessional comments. >> did you ever say to anyone that you could look at those pictures any time you wanted? >> i never said that. >> it wasn't just this one officer, keep in mind, he showed it to several officers who obviously were partaking in the fun. >> the ripple effect of lauren's case was felt throughout the campus police department. in 2020, deputy chief mccleanen resigned and two campus police officers were fired and darris was fired from a job he had taken with another police department. >> mcclaren, darris and three others filed a notice of claim against the university of utah with the attorney general's office. they alleged that they were scapegoated by the university during the lauren mccluskey investigation. >> the utah peace officer

standards and training division instdling of lauren's photos an found there was not sufficient evidence to take disciplinary action against him. >> campus police weren't the only ones who fu about the harassment of lauren. it turns out rowland confessed to co-workers about what he had done. >> he said that he had access to her email. >> how many violations did you just hear described? >> i didn't hear -- there was -- he would have gone back to prison. no matter what type of dog you have...

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and broccoli hotdogs, and of course, they have raw unseasoned broccoli..... with stems. -daddy, i don't want to go to las vegas with you and mommy tomorrow. oh, are you sure? are you sure you don't want to go, it will be so much fun! >> this family, stick together, that's a great strength.

>> from the prosecutor to the parole board to even his co-workers, convicted felon melvin rowland had numerous encounters with people to whom he confessed his crimes. >> he worked in one of the call

centers. >> i'm familiar with that employer. >> what expectations are there of them to take any sort of action, if they see something in the workplace that you would want to know about? >> obviously, anything that's involving a crime. >> on october 16, six days before rowland murdered lauren, he told his co-workers that he had extorted money from her. >> melvin rowland told two colleagues, including a supervisor, on october 16, that he had been sex -- lauren mccluskey. did you ever hear the interviews that police did with those employees? >> no. >> within a few days of lauren's murder, general dynamics information technology hired a local criminal defense attorney and all of these interviews were done in that attorney's office. the university of utah altered the voice on these recordings. >> it's a supervisor who basically lays out the whole story. >> he just told me that he had gone into some trouble over the

weekend, and that he was dating a girl from the university, and he had lied to her about his age, and she had recently found out that he lied, and she broke up with him. and so he got angry, and over the weekend, he had sent her messages from another phone, telling her that he had -- and he wanted money, so that he wouldn't release them. so he said that she september mer money through -- he sent a thousand dollars, he said what she sent, and she send another thousand dollars, and then he got worried that he would get in trouble and tried to send the money back tore h. he said he had email because she had logged

into his email before. and he saw that she had sent screen shots to the police and knew she had contacted authorities about him and he was afraid that he didn't want to go back to jail. he knew he couldn't run forever. melvin said, yes, i don't want to resign. can i just go on leave of absence and i said i'm okay with that. >> how many violations did you hear described? >> he was crying essentially. entrapping someone. >> when you heard what that supervisor just described, what's your reaction to that? >> i'm pissed. it's just another thing that could have been brought to my attention, that could have changed so many things. >> i guess i really didn't realize that there was a supervisor who had the whole story, and didn't do anything.

>> i'm just surprised that no one, it seems like no one is willing to step up and do the right thing. >> a general dynamics spokesperson declined comment. >> if somebody had called you and told you what he had said, what would have happened? >> right then i would have gone to pick him up. i would put him in handcuffs and take him to my office. and -- >> based on what he said and we what know happened what would have happened to him? >> he would have gone back to prison. >> what do you think people need to know about this entire case? >> there were a lot of misses, a lot of opportunities where interventions could have been made. >> what are some of the examples that stand out to you? >> his supervisor at general dynamics. >> that one really got to you, didn't it? >> yes. yes, it did. >> first and foremost you have

to blame melvin rowland. but systematically, as far as the system goes, i place the lion's share of responsibility for her death with the board of pardons because melvin john rowland had given so many signs that he was not capable of surviving in society without putting others at risk. the justice system failed her in so many different ways. she did everything right. we let her down. the system let her down. >> there were processes in place that didn't function the way they were intended. there was communication that should have taken place that didn't. all combined. >> we failed lauren in that sense. >> -- about the number of people whose lives were touched by this? >> we've

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♪ >> i remember our conversations, talking about us being 90 years old and still running. i was like do you still plan on learning and she said of course, you'll be running with me, remember? >> there is just this terrible gap in our lives that won't be filled. so it's the absence that hurts. the memories are actually good to hold on to, i think. >> and we do have wonderful memories of her, but we're still, you know, we still miss her terribly. >> your daughter goes off to college and you never think something like that is going to happen.

>> what would you say to them if you could? >> i have always be able to tell them i'm sorry i couldn't protect their daughter. there are so many things, if i had known, i would have. >> they sent their daughter to where they thought she would have an ideal education she's gone. >> accountability is very important. that allows them to truly move forward, make things better, and make real change. >> it's not a good strategy to try to keep secrets. it's not the right thing to do and it's not very smart either. >> lauren's family filed suit against the university of utah in 2019.

>> we had to file a lawsuit because otherwise we're powerless. >> the university acknowledges and deeply regrets that it did not handle lauren's case as it should have, and that, at the time, its employees failed to fully understand and respond appropriately to lauren's situation. >> the university of utah settled with the mccluskey ttme will mccluskey foundation missions, which include campus safety, animal welfare and amateur athletics. >> in addition the university created a campus center for violence prevention, and agreed to build an athletic facility with an indoor track. both bearing lauren's name. >> there is a lauren mccluskey cat wing at the county humane society. lauren used to volunteer there and just really cared about them. and so, she would be happy about

that. >> yes. >> i think people really remember her and want to honor her memory as much as possible. not only how she died but how she lived, too. >> what goes through your heads about the number of people whose lives were touched by this one way or another? >> we've heard about actually -- we' together because happened. >> i just hope it makes a change so that it doesn't happen in the future to other, for other parents. i mean, i helps me to keep going each day.

>> there are girls who are as precious to their parents as our daughter is to us, and they do not receive this level of attention. i think people should really think about that. i certainly do. there are lots of lauren's out there who we don't hear about. >> those parents honoring their daughter's legacy. to learn more about their journey you can go to the lauren mccluskey foundation and you can watch the espn documentary listen, streaming now on espn plus. i'm david -- from all of at 20/20 abc news and espn, thank you for watching and good night.

rlr. it's >> deadly and intense. thank you for joining. i am dave. describe chaos as they arrive. a video captured large funnel as it moved through belvidere. lightning strikes